Vol 1 Chapter 11 (1/2)

VOLUME 1-1

Chapter 11

At last, Homura and the others departed from the old castle base camp.

“My first mission… my first expedition…!”

Homura was enthusiastic as she looked up at the sun high above and the white ring encircling Nutella.

The old castle, far behind them now, was the only sign of human habitation amidst nature as far as the eye could see. Homura couldn’t even begin to guess how many months and years had pa.s.sed as it overlooked this valley from high up on that hill. She suddenly felt lonely and painfully reluctant at the thought of it.

But the climate of the valley was so splendid that it blew away such forlorn feelings, and if it weren’t for the obstructive baggage on her back, it would be the ideal weather conditions for hiking.

The Exploration Club had Touya as the vanguard and Misasagi-senpai taking up the rear, and they had descended the faintly visible and gently sloping path down the slanting meadow of the hill.

“Oh?”

Homura soon noticed an abnormality about her body which hadn’t been clear inside the castle.

“So light?”

It was a strange feeling, like the springs in her knees were many times tougher and more flexible than before, as if she were walking above the clouds in a dream.

“Senpai, does Nutella have much weaker gravity than Earth or something?”

“The planetary gravity at this lat.i.tude is pretty much the same as Earth’s.”

“Then, this is…”

Homura hopped extra high as she walked as if she were bouncing on a cus.h.i.+on.

“Hinooka-san’s physical abilities have improved.”

“Wow, amazing… my body feels like a balloon.”

As a test, she took a running start of several steps and jumped off the ground with all her strength, crossing over her intended destination by several meters and landing right next to Touya who was walking up ahead.

“Woah…!”

If Touya hadn’t heard Homura’s shout of glee and dodged to the side, it would have been a full-on collision.

“Hey, that’s dangerous, you know?”

“Can I try running for a bit!?”

“Hey!”

Ignoring Touya’s warning of restraint, Homura started running at full speed and had her heart swept away by the sensation of the surrounding scenery blurring past her all at once.

The cool wind blowing through the valley and the daytime heat beating down on the gra.s.s mixed together and caressed her cheeks. Each time Homura took a stride across the ground, she accelerated like a multi-stage rocket. The headwind pa.s.sing over her head and making her hair flutter all over the place was so strong it hurt.

Even the feeling of all her weight s.h.i.+fting onto her feet with a bow-like curve was comfortable, and she couldn’t help laughing as she marveled over how running could be so enjoyable.

She ran across the meadow in the blink of an eye and quickly approached the edge of the forest.

“Woah there—!”

Like a flying boat landing on water, she suddenly put on the brakes by kicking the ground with her heels, and then a shouting voice approached from behind her.

“You, acting so spontaneously again—!”

After approaching from behind her, Touya showily pitched forward and shakily fell to the ground next to Homura.

“You okay, young man?”

Homura peeked down at Touya’s grimacing face as he lay with his body spread out on the gra.s.s.

“…I’m the not issue here. I’m more worried about whether your head’s okay, suddenly running off when you don’t know the route.”

“That was amazing. I can’t believe I can move like this! I have to tell everyone about this sensation!”

“Well, I understand how you feel there.”

Lifting himself up, Touya sat crossed-legged on the ground.

Misasagi-senpai soon approached, smiling with no sign of being particularly worried.

“There are no distinguishable roads past this forest. Sprinting is even difficult for veteran investigators, so please maintain a set pace.”

“Roger!”

“At least you reply well.”

“Touya-kun, you also ran around until your shoes wore out on your first expedition, remember?”

“Heh? Your shoes? The ones procured through tax money? The precious shoes whose importance is only beneath that of our lives and food?”

Giving a sidelong glance at Homura as she made fun of him, Touya scratched his head.

“Senpai, don’t mention that…”

While watching the river stream beside them as they walked, Homura and the others reached the forest.

At consistent intervals, conspicuous red ribbons tied to tree trunks appeared and showed them the correct path.

Their path was obstructed by rotten and hole-filled fallen trees, scree slopes with rocks scattered about where the river level became low, and bamboo gra.s.s thickets so high that only one’s fingertips could reach past the top—for Homura, who was an innate napper, the hike would normally make her throw in the towel right away, but now she was able to finish it like a walk in the park.

Even so, the eeriness of the spider webs, which persistently twined around her hair, and of the anthills, which were so high she had to look up at them, left her dumbfounded.

“Phew… This truly is a primeval forest.”

“Right? Apparently Earth was like this in prehistory.”

While stuffing their cheeks with nuts and sugar-hardened taffy, Homura and Touya once again spoke out in awe and admiration.

Within the dim conifer forest, the chirping of birds could be heard to the point of being annoying.

Misasagi-senpai also surveyed their surroundings while putting her canteen to her mouth.

“Apparently, this place isn’t completely untouched either.”

“You mean there were vestiges of lumbering?”

“We’ve found traces of forest fires near this mountain stream, and they seem to have occurred periodically at a different place. It’s too unnatural to be natural fires, so we think it was probably due to slash-and-burn agriculture being done in the area. We’ve also found grains that have returned to being wild in the vicinity.”

“Then, people lived here? Nutellans!?”

“—Huh? Hey, hey, did you forget about our base camp?”

“Ah.”

Homura pressed her cheek in realization.

“That’s right… There’s no way that that decrepit castle was made by our seniors in the Exploration Club either… Then, there really were Nutellans…!”

“It’s certain that there were people here who possessed civilization,” Misasagi-senpai said. “But we can still only guess what kind of people they were… Ruins like the one we use can also be found all over the place.”

“Amazing, that’s so romantic.”

“Yes.”

Misasagi-senpai smiled happily.

“It’s considered a distinguished achievement if you can find a graveyard in good condition that no one has reported yet, you know?”

“I see… a graveyard or a tomb, huh? Like the pyramids, Taj Mahal, or Indi Jones…”

As Homura murmured as if daydreaming, Touya glared at her dangerously.

“Don’t unnecessarily instigate her, senpai. She’ll immediately get carried away.”

“Aspiration is never a waste. It’s the energy behind each and every one of our steps—Here.”

As she said that, Misasagi-senpai took out some taffy from its paper wrapping and then pressed it into Touya’s mouth.

“Nrgh—”

Touya quickly became red-faced.

“Me too, feed me too.”

“Sure, Hinooka-san, here you go.”

As Homura pestered her like a baby chick, Misasagi-senpai offered her taffy while smiling.

Touya remained red-faced as he pressed his lips.

As they traversed the forest while talking like this, thick clouds began to obscure the blue sky that peeked through the tree canopy.

Homura regretfully looked up at the sight of the Bagel covered over by clouds.

When they finally made it out of the forest, they came out onto a small ridge. It was a suitable place to look over the surrounding area, but the blowing wind had chilled in the afternoon weather.

“It’s gotten a bit cold…”

When Homura tried to close up her chest b.u.t.tons that had been open until now, she realized that they were fake b.u.t.tons, and instead she once again zipped up the fastener hidden beneath the front of her outfit.

“How far have we come?”

“Let’s look at the map.”

Misasagi-senpai quickly spread out the map and changed its orientation according to the cardinal directions.

“This is the base camp where we started from… The river we’ve constantly seen to our right is this line. Our destination is the summit of this ridge—”

Homura peeked down at the map along with Touya.

“—Do you understand where we are right now?” Misasagi-senpai asked.

While recalling their path until now, Homura traced the route on the map with her finger.

“…Here… no, here?”

“How about you, Touya-kun?”

Touya silently pointed with his finger. His designated location was quite a distance away from Homura’s.

“Muh.”

“Touya-kun got it right.”

“You’re like a lost child.”

“…This is the notification of a lost child. From beyond the Earth, that is…”

“You have general grasp of distance, Hinooka-san. We always choose a route with as little difference in elevation as possible, so you can judge our location and distance with the map’s contour lines if you understand that.”

“…Then that means we’re still only halfway there, huh…”

“If you consider our return course as well, it’s a fourth of our journey.”

“Uwah, please stop.”

Homura once more surveyed their surroundings.

And when she thought of how they still had to cross several mountains that lay ahead, she felt fatigue for the first time.

“We’re moving at a good pace. There’s no need to rush.”

Misasagi-senpai carefully folded up the map so it wouldn’t be blown away by the wind.

“We’ll be going up and down slopes a lot from this point on. There are also some sharp ascents on our path. Hinooka-san, are there any problems with your physical condition? We can take a rest, you know?”

“I’m perfectly fine! …That’s what I’d like to say, but the truth is, I’m a little tired.”

After Misasagi-senpai exchanged a look with Touya, they moved towards a rock face under the shadow of the ridge where the wind wouldn’t reach.

The Exploration Club group sat down against the rock face and took a breather.

“It really would be the best if there was a hot spring waiting for us at the end of all this walking, though,” Homura grumbled.

Touya spoke up in agreement while stretching his knees.

“Yeah, a hot spring really would be nice! But I suppose that’s asking for too much… There aren’t any here, right, senpai?”

“None have been discovered in this vicinity.”

“How unfortunate,” the other two despondently replied at the same time.

“Hot springs are always accompanied by volcanoes, so they come with the danger of gas, and of course volcanic eruptions too. As such, places with hot springs are unsuitable for the Exploration Club’s activities and bases.”

“I see…”

“There’s no need to be so disappointed. There’s something better than hot springs waiting for us ahead.”

“What?”

“What is it?”

“Look forward to it as a surprise.”

Homura began to protest grumpily, though Touya managed to console her, and then he began to move the contents of her baggage to his own backpack.

“I said I would carry it myself, you mountain monkey…”

“It’s because the footing is apparently bad up ahead.”

“…Touya-kun, is it also your first time coming this far?”

“Yeah, I’ve only been as far as the forest earlier. I only know the rest by map. By the way, senpai… You figured out the cardinal directions without looking at a compa.s.s earlier. Are you familiar with this area?”

“Yeah, you figured it out right away.”

True enough, the terrain was covered with many similar-looking ridges and the cloudy sky right now made shadows fainter and less distinguishable, so Homura hadn’t been able to tell them apart at all with her amateur eyes. Furthermore, when an overwhelming landmark like the Bagel that cut a white path across the sky disappeared from sight, it made her feel quite anxious.

“Yes, that’s right—This is a familiar route that I’ve pa.s.sed through many times while setting up the relay base. Look, the mark on that rock is something I made with paint. It’s become quite faded now. I should repaint it soon…”

Misasagi-senpai wore a nostalgic expression as she gazed at the path along the ridge ahead.

Homura suddenly looked over at Touya, and he was painfully watching senpai’s face from the side next to her. It was as if Touya was sorrowfully reading something within senpai’s mind that Homura knew nothing about.

Noticing Homura’s gaze, Touya frantically looked away towards the scenery and scratched his head.

“Haha… When you’ve been in the Exploration Club for three years, I guess you can tell which direction you’re facing even without a compa.s.s.”

“I can tell, too.”

“As if—wait, you actually can?”

Touya was startled. Homura raised her hand smugly.

“Yes! You know, you infer it based on the narrowness of a tree’s annual rings—”

“That method doesn’t work in places where the north side is slanted or strong wind makes the branches tilt to one side, you know? I tested it out myself.”

Nodding at Touya, Misasagi-senpai pointed at her eyes.

“My eyes seem to be able to grasp geomagnetic lines. Only roughly, though.”

“M-Magnetic lines?” Homura repeated confusedly.

“Geomagnetic lines… what do they look like?”

“It’s hard to explain in words, but… It’s kinda like a moiré pattern that’s overlays my vision,” Senpai murmured while focusing, and then her strangely-colored eyes clearly changed even further.

“Ooh… Can you avoid losing your way even on a pitch-black night?”

“No, that’s beyond my abilities. But I can distinguish the direction at least.”

“That’s amazing enough on its own.”